New NHS guidelines shift care provision

The care of many people with learning disabilities in the UK is likely to be transformed with the introduction of new NHS guidelines for healthcare provision.

NHS England has published a draft national framework designed to shift care away from hospitals and towards community-based settings.

The guidelines come in the wake of growing concern about the care and deaths of people with learning difficulties and/or autism in hospitals.

Connor Sparrowhawk (pictured) was one such case. The 18-year-old died in 2013 at Slade House, an assessment and treatment unit in Oxfordshire that was run by NHS foundation trust Southern Health.

Connor, who had autism and epilepsy, drowned in a bath. An external investigation concluded that his death was preventable.

The new NHS guidelines involve nine principles of what ‘good’ services for people with learning disabilities and/or autism should look like.

The guidelines highlight steps towards providing more preventative care, with better identification of people at risk. They stress the need to ensure access to mainstream health services, including mental health services in the community. They also point to the need for specialist multi-disciplinary support to be provided in the community, including intensive support to avoid admission to hospital.

The principles will underpin how local services are redesigned over the coming months and years. In the meantime, the guidelines will be tested immediately this summer by five ‘fast track’ areas announced by Simon Stevens, NHS England’s chief executive.

Speaking at the NHS Annual Conference in June, Stevens said of the initiative: “This is not all about the money. It is all about the kind of healthcare system we want. We need to fundamentally redesign care.”

Referring to learning disabilities, he said: “We have not finished the job. We need a closure programme for long-stay institutions, with more power in the hands of families.”

Inpatient beds and facilities are expected to close over the next 18 months, when a shift in commissioning ‘high quality’ community-based services takes place.

To read more about NHS England’s Transforming Care for People with Learning Disabilities programme, click here